If WATER is coded as AWXAV, what is the code for the UNIVERSE?

Concept

This is a letter-coding problem: each letter of the source word is replaced by a letter obtained by shifting it forward or backward in the alphabet by a fixed number of places, and the shift direction alternates strictly by the letter's position in the word (1st, 3rd, 5th... shift one way; 2nd, 4th, 6th... shift the other way). The same position-wise rule discovered from the given example must be re-applied, position by position, to the new word — it is never a letter-to-letter substitution table.

Step 1: Derive the rule from WATER -> AWXAV

1. W (23rd letter) shifts by +4 to A (27 mod 26 = 1st letter).

2. A (1st letter) shifts by -4 to W (1 - 4 = -3, which is the 23rd letter).

3. T (20th letter) shifts by +4 to X (24th letter).

4. E (5th letter) shifts by -4 to A (5 - 4 = 1st letter).

5. R (18th letter) shifts by +4 to V (22nd letter).

So the pattern is +4, -4, +4, -4, +4 - odd positions shift +4, even positions shift -4.

Step 2: Apply the same rule to UNIVERSE

1. Position 1: U (21st letter) +4 -> Y (25th letter).

2. Position 2: N (14th letter) -4 -> J (10th letter).

3. Position 3: I (9th letter) +4 -> M (13th letter).

4. Position 4: V (22nd letter) -4 -> R (18th letter).

5. Position 5: E (5th letter) +4 -> I (9th letter).

6. Position 6: R (18th letter) -4 -> N (14th letter).

7. Position 7: S (19th letter) +4 -> W (23rd letter).

8. Position 8: E (5th letter) -4 -> A (1st letter).

Cross-check

Reversing the same alternating rule (apply -4 to the odd positions and +4 to the even positions of the derived code) recovers UNIVERSE exactly, confirming the shift pattern was applied consistently across all eight positions with no transposition.

Hence the code for UNIVERSE is YJMRINWA.